He is most famous for his memoirs of his childhood in
AlvdalAlvdal in the
books Simen, Bonden and Bror Min, and his creation of the fictional
Norwegian village of Flåklypa and its cast of idiosyncratic
characters. This setting was the basis of the 1975 animated film
"
Flåklypa Grand Prix ", directed by
Ivo Caprino . The film was the
first full-length animated feature in Norway, became an international
success and has been translated into more than seventy languages. In
Britain it is known as "Pinchcliffe Grand Prix". The protagonist
Reodor Felgen (English version: Theodore Rimspoke) has become
synonymous in
NorwayNorway with
Rube GoldbergRube Goldberg type contraptions.

Some of the characters who populated the village of Pinchcliffe were
also the basis for the first full length handdrawn animated feature in
Norway, "Solan, Ludvig og Gurin med reverompa". Released in 1998,
this movie takes place in
OsloOslo and
AlvdalAlvdal . In Britain it is known as
"Gurin with the Foxtail".